Filtering, How Fast?

"Boning" someone must have an entirely different meaning over there. Oh, T boning.

If filtering is legal, wouldn't that make her at fault?

The only place I ever lived where filtering/lane-splitting is legal was Okinawa, Japan. I once saw a guy filtering on a scooter crash headlong into a car after someone allowed him to cut through traffic from a fuel station. He was doing about 40 mph wearing nothing but business casual and he got, finished what the crash started by tearing off his front fender, and drove on as if nothing ever happened.

 

I'm not sure I'd have the nerve or skill to do it if I lived somewhere it is legal. It is legal in California and it looks scary when I watch videos of them doing it. Some people fly through the cars without even a thought.

 

Rule of thumb I was taught is no more than 20 mph faster than the traffic flow

 

I filtered down the M74 last week, for about 10 miles, working my way to the front of a 3 artic convoy with a wind turbine column. No issues with u turns obviously, but I was keeping my eyes WIDE open. The usual Panzerwagen drivers trying to close the gaps though...................

 

Anything more than 10 mph faster than the traffic flow leaves you unable to react in time to ladies driving white minis...... whether she is u-turning, emerging from a side street or changing lanes......

 

NZ allows filtering, with some strong advisories. Maximum of 20km above traffic speed, only on the right side of left lane (we travel on the left).
Generally only filter in slow traffic, but have when cars are blocking freeways
Some cars sit in right of lane to restrict bikes but many pull left which I try to register with Thumbs up

 

Liability is probably more on the car driver than the motorcyclist, she was carrying out the dangerous manoeuvre in making a 'U' turn. To escape liability or reduce her share she would have to show that she took all reasonable precautions, like indicating, looking over her right shoulder before she commenced the turn.
The motorcyclist should recover most or all of his damages, they could be reduced (contributory negligence) if he was travelling faster than reasonable in the particular circumstances.

Like the OP I would not filter at more than 10-15mph when going past a line of stationary traffic, going faster means you cannot react when a car, bike or pedestrian comes out between 2 vehicles.

In moving traffic again I would not filter at more than 15mph or so above the moving traffic speed and watch carefully for the car changing lanes.

Fortunately this is only a hypothetical case but this type of accident happens all too frequently and at the end of the day it does not matter who is right and who is wrong it hurts the motorcyclist! It is little comfort saying I was innocent when sitting with a leg in plaster, or worse.

The safest outlook to have when riding is that all the other people on the roads are out to get you!!

 

Strange one that. Few years ago i was filtering on the bath road to slough when a taxi driver decided to do a uturn in front of me sending me flying. I was only doing 10 15 miles an hour. But my greatest luck was there was a plod on the other side who saw it all. The driver swerved out no indicator and to quickly without checking. His insurance wanted a 50/50 but it was going to court and they decided that in light of the police witness they would pay up.
Joe.

 

If the white mini was stationary then it is her responsibility to be aware of filtering motorcycles (it's in the Highway Code). If the queue is moving slowly (difficult to define 'slowly') then again, it's the car drivers responsibility to check before manoeuvring. I'd be interested to know how you judged the bikes speed to be 30mph but even if it was, and the traffic was stationary or moving 'slowly', then liability lies with the car driver. Proving all that could be tricky and may come down to witnesses, and none of it is going to help the rider after he's ploughed into the car.
However, the rider was obviously aware that car drivers do this sort of thing (as we all are) so needs to make himself as visible and as safe as possible. Maybe he felt that he was. There is actually no scientific evidence that white helmets make any difference, although you may think it would be obvious. Similarly, day glow or luminous clothing has not been shown to make drivers more aware of bikers, strange as it may seem. If she didn't notice a headlight closing on her at (possibly) 30mph then is a disco jacket really going to help?
There have been many times when I've watched police cars, all lights blazing, having to slow behind dozy drivers. If they're invisible then I doubt my black leather jacket is going to increase my chances of being hit by a pillock in a car.
Maybe he was riding too fast in that situation but that's a judgement call that each of us makes every time we take the bike out.

 

If the white mini was stationary then it is her responsibility to be aware of filtering motorcycles (it's in the Highway Code). If the queue is moving slowly (difficult to define 'slowly') then again, it's the car drivers responsibility to check before manoeuvring. I'd be interested to know how you judged the bikes speed to be 30mph but even if it was, and the traffic was stationary or moving 'slowly', then liability lies with the car driver. Proving all that could be tricky and may come down to witnesses, and none of it is going to help the rider after he's ploughed into the car.
However, the rider was obviously aware that car drivers do this sort of thing (as we all are) so needs to make himself as visible and as safe as possible. Maybe he felt that he was. There is actually no scientific evidence that white helmets make any difference, although you may think it would be obvious. Similarly, day glow or luminous clothing has not been shown to make drivers more aware of bikers, strange as it may seem. If she didn't notice a headlight closing on her at (possibly) 30mph then is a disco jacket really going to help?
There have been many times when I've watched police cars, all lights blazing, having to slow behind dozy drivers. If they're invisible then I doubt my black leather jacket is going to increase my chances of being hit by a pillock in a car.
Maybe he was riding too fast in that situation but that's a judgement call that each of us makes every time we take the bike out.

 

Some bikers, seems to me, have a death wish......they hurtle down the outside of a line of traffic at 50 or 60 mph. If you are in a car, they can be upon you in the (literally) blink of an eye. Aggressive riding, like that, is just asking for trouble irrespective of whether the car driver does something idiotic.......they are always doing something idiotic as they are human. I have made mistakes myself. As far to the right as possible (to maximise viewing angle) and a slow overtaking speed are essential. But hey.....what do I know?

 

As others have said the mini driver is at fault all day long for not checking the road was clear and safe for her manoeuvre
I spend a lot of time filtering in London and on the whole the vast majority of drivers (cars,vans,lorry drivers) are very considerate and move out of the way - when the lines of traffic are tight I usually travel between 10 and 20 mph when more open I’ll get up to 40 regularly -imagine lane width on dual carriageways to lane width on your local high street - motorbike snake games are a pleasant distraction on the commute
However having said that always drive to the conditions and your level of comfort

 

IMO filtering nice and easy (slowly) is the safest way to make progress through slow or stationary trafic

 

Filtering is illegal in the US, except for California I believe. Frankly, I find the UK filtering quite an amazing feat. I youtube watch the Royal Jordanian Daily Observations where he filters through London proper. He comes so damn close yet never hits. I actually get motion sickness watching it...lol. True pro.

 

I ride in London pretty regularly, and seem to spend much of the time filtering (and actually kind of enjoy it, for some perverse reason). However, I'm bloody careful when I do it and NEVER take chances with regard to excess speed.

The only time I've come a cropper (on a Street Triple) was in a line of stationery traffic in Avenue Road, heading towards Regents Park. As I approached a right hand junction a car sitting in the traffic queue decided to make a bolt for it and, without indicating or mirror checking, just swung the car out and made the turn. When filtering I try to keep one eye on the front wheels of cars and, thank god, I saw what he was doing as I pulled level with his car. The Striple is beautifully flickable and I somehow managed to turn with him such that the only thing that made contact was my hand with his door mirror; the mirror fell off (karma!) and the armour over my knuckles took the impact. I even kept the bike up

The point I'm making in this ramble is that filtering is ALWAYS a risk and the only thing that really mitigates that risk is to keep your relative speed to a manageable level. I reckon I was doing between 10 and 15mph - any quicker and I'd have been toast.